


I'm Gonna Be

by Whyndancer



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU, Background Jane Foster/Thor, F/M, Fluff, Grad School AU, Mild Cursing, long distance relationship AU, this is so fluffy and sappy that I gave myself a cavity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 09:05:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17180033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whyndancer/pseuds/Whyndancer
Summary: She's the Maid of Honor. He's the Best Man.Even with thousands of miles between them, they manage to fall headlong into one of the oldest cliches in the book.Neither one quite seems to mind.





	I'm Gonna Be

**Author's Note:**

> TaserTricks Secret Santa gift fic for Longlivecartoons on Tumblr
> 
> You asked for fluff, and this is as fluffy as it gets.
> 
> Title taken from the song I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) by the Proclaimers  
> Loosely based on this story, http://www.bluntmoms.com/flew-1200-miles-fake-engaged-icu-patient-id-never-met-now-married/  
> which got passed around tumblr as a prompt in a post I can't seem to find

Darcy had slept maybe six hours in the last three days and she still had two final papers left to finish and one more final to finish studying for by tomorrow. She'd been staring bleary eyed at her computer screen, trying to remember what it was she'd meant to say about the socio-political factors that contributed to the fall of ancient Rome for almost ten minutes when skype sounded out an incoming call, startling her so badly that she jumped straight out of her chair onto the floor.

She recovered fairly quickly, popping back up to hit the answer button almost before another ring had completed. The video chat window showed the familiar face of her lifelong best friend. "Jane! Hey, what's up? I can't tell you how good it is to see your face right now."

"Hey Darcy, it's good to see you to. You look a little... um... worn down? Are you okay? Should I call back later?"

"Oh, jeez, do I look that bad? No, wait, of course I do. Ugh." Darcy shook her head a little and smacked herself lightly on the cheeks to try and get a little more of the fuzz out of her brain. "It's no big deal really, it's just finals, you know? To many papers, too little time. I'm running on coffee, pop-tarts and energy drinks right now. It's actually kind of a relief to think about anything else right now."

Jane looked slightly abashed when finals were mentioned, but perked up again when Darcy'd said she wanted something else to think about. "Sorry, I forgot about it being the middle of finals for you, but I was just so excited I couldn't wait to show you!" She lifted her left hand up to eye level so that Darcy could see the gorgeous platinum ring with deep blue sapphires set around a sizable central diamond, sitting snugly at the base of her third finger.

"Oh my God, Jane! He proposed?!? When?!? How!? Tell me everything!!!!"

* * *

They talked for almost an hour and would have talked longer, but Darcy was starting to fall asleep at the computer and Jane shooed her off, making her promise to get some actual sleep and she'd call again as soon as finals were over. Darcy had joyfully accepted the role of Maid of Honor, glad that the wedding itself was still over a year away.

The night after her last test of the semester she and Jane had a long distance margarita night to catch up and celebrate Jane's engagement to Thor. Between the tequila and the end of semester exhaustion, she forgot that Jane had asked if she could give her skype info to the best man, Thor's younger brother Loki, until she got a message from L.Ogden- or 'worldsnake_daddy' by his skype name.

_Hello, Ms. Lewis, my brother tells me we are to be_

_dance partners approximately a year from now._

_So ur the best man? Super sry but I was end-of-semester  
_ _drunk when Jane told me ur name tho I'm pretty sure it's not Larry_

_and teh username is not helping_

 

_I remember what that's like. The username and my first name are actually related,  
_ _though it has as much to do with my profession as my name. I wonder if you can guess it._

_YOur Name or profession?_

_Full marks if you get both, but I imagine it would be far more  
_ _embarrassing to have to ask your friend my name again, than to ask her what I do_

_Cahllenge accepted_

_Challenge_

_stupid typos_

She went straight to google because the term 'world serpent' was kind of ringing a bell in the back of her mind. Two clicks later and she was back on skype

_Dude. Did your parents seriously name both of you after  
_ _Norse Gods? I mean, obviously they did, but omfg why?_

_Ah, but that is a terribly personal question, don't you think, for_  
_someone you've exchanged no more than a few sentences with?_  
_And you've still not made your guess as to my occupation.  
_ _Technically you've not even said what it is you think my name is._

_*major eyeroll*_

_Okay then,_ Loki _, I apologize for being to forward about your name  
even when you were the one that made a guessing game out of it._

_Touche_

She was really starting to like this guy. He was kind of a snarky ass, but then, so was she, and she was already having fun with their back and forth.

_So I'm betting on you doing something with snakes,_  
_because otherwise like, WolfDad or HorseMom would_  
_have been more interesting, and the most general_  
_guess_ _I can make with that (cuz you haven't given me_  
_enough_ _clues for anything more specific) is_  
Herpetologist.

  
Well, almost. I still have to finish my thesis and  
_f_ _or that I have to finish my current fieldwork._

He sent her a picture of a grinning young man, that she assumed must be him, with dark curly hair and pink tinged pale skin, crouching in a dense, tropical looking forest with a snake curled around his right arm.

_Dude. That is so cool._

_I must admit that I'm quite glad it didn't put you off._

_After all, as a Professional Snake Lover, I could hardly_  
have a torrid  _whirlwind romance with someone who_  
can't stand snakes, could I?

_Excuse me, what?_

_Torrid whirlwind what now?_

_Isn't that the trope? The best man and maid of honor having a passionate,_  
_possibly drunken affair in the days surrounding the wedding and_  
_then either eloping to live happily ever after or spending the next_  
decade  _awkwardly attempting to avoid each other at any events that  
_ _might see_ _them in the same room?_

_Wouldn't want to break tradition after all ; )_

_Right. Tradition._

_Rotfl_

_You're lucky I speak sarcasm. :)_

* * *

Because of his current remote location, regular internet access was an issue, so daily chats weren't really doable and video or voice calls weren't even on the table. But he got just long enough with the satellite connection every day that he could send and receive emails. And while it was kind of weird to go back to long form letters on email for anything other than official school or business crap, it didn't take long to get used to and before she knew it they were exchanging long rambling emails almost daily. They were equally fluent in snark and sarcasm and some of his letters made her laugh so hard she nearly wet herself.

_...so Thor's just standing there staring at the rubber snake, eyes as big as dinner plates,  
_ _for almost five minutes. Then, in the loudest whisper ever he says "Loki? Is that you?" and pokes the snake._  
_That sets off the mouse trap and he shrieks at a pitch that could shatter glass and bolts back to the house,_  
_screaming bloody murder all the way. I was grounded for a week, but it was entirely worth it. Over twenty years_  
_later and he's not touched a single one of my snakes without asking since._

When winter gave way to spring and he finally made it back to the land of 4G and high speed internet, they excitedly made plans for a full video call as soon as they both were free. They were still three time zones apart, so timing was a bit of an issue, but somehow their agreement to only worry about being on at the same time a couple times a month turned in to video calls at least three times a week.

_"So are you ever going to tell me the story behind your name? Have we exchanged the appropriate amount of sentences yet?"_

_"Ha! I suppose we have at that. It's my mother's fault really, her family has been named after_  
_various members of the Norse pantheon for generations. She herself is named Frigga and_  
_her siblings Freya and Freyr. Father has traveled quite extensively for business all our lives,_  
_and even before we were born. Mother warned him that if he was away when she went into_  
_labor that he would have no input on naming the child. And lo and behold Thor was born_  
_ten days early while Father was half a world away and not due back for three days yet."_

_"Oh my god that's amazing. Didn't he learn his lesson with you though? Or were you even earlier?"_

_"Actually, it was my biological mother that named me."_

_"Shit. I'm so sorry, I didn't know-"_

_'"It's alright Darcy. It's no surprise that you wouldn't have known, I don't expect it's_  
_something that's come up when you've talked to Jane or Thor. My mother's baby_  
_sister Freya eloped with a scoundrel named Laurence not long after Thor's birth._  
_Apparently he ran off as soon as she got pregnant. She didn't try and contact mother_  
_for help until she came came down with pneumonia. She asked Mother if she could_  
_take me until she'd recovered so that I wouldn't get sick from her. But she never did recover."_

_"Loki, that's -"_

_"Sad, yes, but for her not for me. Mother and_  
_Father adopted me, and while I don't always_  
_get along with Father, I've had a very good life."_

Despite trying to balance a full semester, a graduate assistantship, and coordinating wedding planning with Jane from two and a half thousand miles away, making time for a call with Loki never felt like an imposition. Honestly her calls with him were one of the things she looked forward to most in her week. They'd fallen into an easy friendship, trading quips and sharing stories, commiserating over coursework, thesis committees, asshole professors and colleagues who wouldn't know common sense if it bit them. She honestly felt like she could talk to him about anything.

_"God, Loki, sometimes I wonder why I'm even doing this. How is any of this stress and hassle and debt even worth  
it if I can't get anyone to take me seriously?"_

_"Darcy, listen to me, you are worth ten of any man or women in politics today. And when people try and put you down, always  
remember that spite makes for an amazing motivator."_

* * *

 

Spring rolled into summer, and summer into fall and finally Darcy was done with her last semester of coursework. She wouldn't be leaving for her term abroad til late January, so she had plenty of time help Jane with final prep for her fancy New Years Eve wedding, then house sit while the newlyweds went on an extended honeymoon. Darcy was maybe a little jealous that Jane got to spend four weeks in a tropical paradise with her wealthy gorgeous husband, but the arrangement meant that she didn't have to figure out temporary living arrangements (i.e. crash with her parents) before her she left for Europe, so she really couldn't complain. And sometime in the next few days, she would finally get to meet Loki. Which she was more excited about than she really wanted to admit.

Two days later she was watching Thor pace in the front hall as Jane finished getting ready. There was a dinner planned that night for the wedding party and the families of the bride and groom to all meet before rehearsals started and Loki was supposed to have arrived three hours ago. Darcy was trying to tell Thor (and herself) that his flight probably just got delayed, but Thor insisted that he should have at least tried to get them a message. Thor's cell went off just as Jane was coming down the stairs and he started yelling as soon as he picked it up, only to stop short, confirming his identity with a confused expression, before going white as a sheet. He listened in silence for another minute before stammering out a weak thanks and hanging up.

"There's been an accident."

No.

"On the way to the airport. They said there was a huge pileup, and that they've only just got him to the hospital in Jacksonville and found his identification."

No. NO. No no nonononononono. Oh god please no. "Is he...?" Her voice came out in a rasp, as her head swam and the bottom dropped out of her stomach.

She could still hear Thor talking but he sounded muffled, like he was two rooms away instead of two feet. "He's alive, but unconscious, and they're taking him into surgery soon. Jane, I need... I must."

Jane's voice when she answered was just as distant. "You need to call your parents. See if they know yet, and decide who all is going. I'll start looking for flights."

"I'm going." The words were out of her mouth before she knew she meant to say anything. She looked over at Jane and Thor to find them looking at her in surprise. "I mean, if there's not enough room on the first flight I can go on the next one, and I'll pay for my own ticket, I just... I need to go. I know I'm supposed to be helping you with the wedding right now but I need to see him. He has to be okay. He has to." She met Jane's eye as realization dawned. "Jane... I think I love him."

Jane crossed over to her and pulled her into a hug, just as the damn burst and Darcy started sobbing. "I know, I know sweetie, don't worry about the wedding planning right now, we'll get you there."

Darcy pulled back at that, "What do mean you know? I didn't know!"

"Darcy he's practically all you've talked about for the last six months."

Thor came up behind them then, and swept both of them up into the biggest bear hug ever. "Of course you'll come with us Darcy, I know he'll want to see you as well."

Jane pulled away after a moment, and shooed them up the stairs, with instructions for them both to pack a weekend bag and change into more comfortable clothes for the flight, while Thor pulled out his phone to call his parents.

* * *

Seven hours later, after the most nerve wracking flight she'd ever experienced, complete with a one hour layover because of course there were no nonstop flights today at any price, Thor and Darcy practically fell out of the taxi as it pulled up to the hospital where they'd taken Loki. His parents hadn't been able to make it in time to be on the same flight and would instead fly out first thing in the morning, so it was just the two of them stumbling up to the information desk at half past one in the morning.

They were told that he'd been moved to a private room as requested, but that outside of regular visiting hours only family members would be allowed in the room. Darcy was on the verge of tears again, when Thor spoke up unexpectedly.

"She's his fiancée , surly that counts as family yes?"

"Of course sir, this is his room number. Take the second elevator down the right hall to the third floor, you'll need to check in at the nurses desk there as well. "

As she trotted down the halls after Thor she couldn't help but ask, "Fiancée?"

"It will get you in to see him. Unless it bothers you?"

"Um, no, I guess not really, I just hope he doesn't mind." Despite the sudden realization of her feelings toward him, Darcy was acutely aware that they never met in person before and that she had no idea if harbored any sort of the same feeling towards her.

But Thor just gave her a soft smile from over his shoulder. "I really don't believe he will."

There was a blur of not-quite-running through the halls and talking to more nurses and signing things someone was saying something about surgery going well, and improving rapidly, and then, finally, they were ushered into a room with strict orders not to disturb the patient, and there he was. He was bruised and bandaged all over, breathing unassisted and connected to far fewer wires and tubes than Darcy had imagined. His left leg and arm were both in casts, a sling keeping the arm tucked up against his chest. And he was still, at that moment, the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen.

Thor claimed the chair on the far side of the room, (looking extremely uncomfortable and borderline comical with how completely he dwarfed it) leaving the chair closer to the bed for Darcy to sink into. She hadn't thought she'd be able to sleep at all, but seeing Loki with her own two eyes, alive and at least mostly whole had effectively flipped a switch and the adrenaline and stress that had kept her awake ‘til now was rapidly draining away, leaving her exhausted enough to fall asleep in the most uncomfortable chair in the world.

She woke to the sounds of irritable cursing.

"Oh, piss off. I'd be doing much better if you'd bloody well let me sleep. Aren't you supposed to make sure patients get more rest not less?"

Oh thank God. If he was bitching like that he couldn't be too bad off. She opened her eyes to see a crabby looking Loki being looked over by a nurse.

"Not when you have a head injury, Mr. Ogden. Did you even notice that you have visitors? Your brother and your fiancée got in about an hour ago."

Loki looked taken aback. "Fiancée?" He shifted his head awkwardly to look at her side of the room. "Darcy?" His face when he caught sight of her was the very picture of befuddlement, and she was worried that the jig was up, when suddenly his expression cleared. "Oh. I'm dreaming. Hello love, how was your flight?"

The look of doe-eyed affection on his face when he addressed her had Darcy glancing nervously over at the nurse. "How bad was his head injury?"

She shook her head. "Really not that bad, all things considered, basically just a really nasty concussion. He is, however, on some pretty strong pain medicine for the broken bones, and I've just given him another dose so he's probably getting pretty loopy."

Loopy indeed. While she was talking to the nurse Loki had reached out to her with his good hand and started making grabby fingers and very loudly 'whispering', "Darcy. Darcy come here. You're too far away. Come here where I can reach you."

Darcy looked over at Thor, who had been silent throughout, wondering if he was asleep. He was not asleep. Thor was sitting back in his chair watching the proceedings wearing the biggest shit-eating grin she'd ever seen on him. He had his cellphone out with the camera pointed in the direction of the bed, and when he noticed her looking at him somehow grinned even wider and waved her over toward Loki.

The nurse gathered her things and headed back out of the room then, reminding them on her way out that the patient did need as much rest as possible, and that she would be back again in a few hours to check on his head. Loki was still making puppy eyes and grabby hands (well, hand) at her so she stood and moved up to the side of the bed where she could take his hand. "Jeeze, Loki, you scared me. Us. You scared all of us. Don't do that again."

Loki merely smiled happily when she took his hand, then pulled it up to his face to place a soft kiss on her knuckles. A deep blush rose to her cheeks as he sighed in contentment, his eyes growing heavy again with sleep. "This is a good dream," he sighed before drifting back off, still holding her hand.

As she fought back the heat in her cheeks, Darcy couldn't help but glance over again at Thor. Who still had the damn phone pointed at them. "You do know Loki's going to kill you if you were filming that, right?"

Thor just kept on grinning. "He might. But you can see now that I wasn't guessing when I said he'd be glad to see you."

She looked down at the hand still caught in Loki's, and tried not to get too hopeful as she carefully disengaged it and went back to her chair to try and get a bit more rest. "I'm still reserving judgement 'til he's not half asleep and high on pain meds."

* * *

She must have slept through the next visit from the nurse, because when Thor shook her awake there was sunlight coming through the small window, and they were being ushered out into a waiting room so that Loki could be moved out of the ICU.

They took the opportunity to wander down to the coffee shop in the downstairs lobby for breakfast and caffeine, and by the time they were finished Darcy felt less like a sad, battered, rag doll and much more like an actual rational human being. Thor was on his third phone call of the morning by then and he still had more to make, so he told her to go ahead on without him, rather unsubtly hinting that she should take the opportunity to spend some time alone with her 'fiancée '. When she made it over to the private room that Loki had been moved to she found him still awake, and flipping through the different channels on the television with a scowl on his face.

"Nothing interesting on?"

He started at her voice, wide eyes snapping over to meet hers, the remote dropping from his hand.

"Darcy." His voice was hushed and tinged with disbelief, as though he didn't quite trust what his eyes were telling him.

She ducked her head, fighting a sudden attack of shyness. "That's my name, don't wear it out." Ugh. What, was she ten years old? She tried again. "Hey. How are you feeling?" Slightly less mortifying.

"When did you get here? Was I... I thought that was a dream." He looked adorably confused, the spot between his eyebrows crinkling in the way they always did when he was upset or trying to puzzle something out and she was struck by a not unfamiliar urge to smooth it out with her fingers. As he was actually, physically right in front of her this time, she'd crossed most of the way over to him, her hand half extended before she caught herself, stopping just out of arm's reach.

"If you're talking about the nurse's visit in the middle of the night, then no, you weren't actually dreaming." This was ridiculous. Talking to Loki had never been this awkward before and she refused to let her nerves keep her from talking to her best friend. She could still do banter if she wanted to. "Does that mean you dream of me often?"

He blushed. Honest to goodness his cheeks and the tips of his ears went pink and he ducked his head slightly, before recovering, and answering, "something like that," with a familiar half-grin. He turned it around on her immediately though, by quirking an eyebrow at her and letting amusement color his tone. "So, if that wasn't a dream, I have to ask, when exactly was it that that we got engaged?"

Oh hell. Now she was blushing again. "Shush you. They were only letting family members in for visitation when we got here and I..." her voice caught and she swallowed around the lump in her throat, blinking back the tears that had sprung to her eyes. "I needed to see you." The words tumbled from her mouth, like a damn had broken, and she reached out to take his hand as they just kept coming "I'm sorry, I just, I had to. When I heard you'd been hurt, that you might be... It was like my heart stopped and it wouldn't start working right again until I could see you for myself. If I'd had to sit there waiting for a phone call to tell me if you'd be okay I think I might have lost it. I don't think I could stand it if I lost you and..."

"Darcy!" He squeezed her hand just hard enough to be uncomfortable and she realized that he'd called her name several times already. She scrubbed at her eyes with the hand not currently occupied and looked up at him. The look on his face was so tender that she almost started sobbing right there, but he let go of her hand then to reach up and cup her cheek, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "It's alright Darcy, I'm here. I'm a little banged up, but I'm right here, and I'll be right as rain in no time. You're not going to lose, me, I promise." His own eyes were bright with unshed tears by then, and she let herself return the caress, stroking carefully along the least bruised part of his face. His hand slipped around to the back of her head, fingers sliding into the loose knot of her hair, and very slowly, very gently pulled her face down to his, giving her every opportunity to pull away. She closed the last few inches on her own, softly brushing his lips with her own. He pulled her just a little bit closer, into the sweetest, softest kiss she'd ever had.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, sharing kiss after whisper soft kiss, until Loki tried to deepen the kiss, and immediately pulled back with a wince and a curse.

"Oh my god, Loki, I'm so sorry."

"No, it's fine, I just got a bit carried away." He sagged back into his pillows. "Ah, damn."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just... I had reservations at Capriccio tomorrow night. I was going to ask if you'd go with me." He was peeking through his lashes at her when he said it, surreptitiously trying to gauge her reaction.

"Wait," she blinked, "like, on a date?

He shot her a mild glare. "No, like on a business dinner. Yes, Darcy. I was planning to ask you on a date." He'd gone with sarcasm to cover it, but she could tell he was nervous underneath it.

"Cool it Mr. Snarkypants. I'm just a little thrown cause it looks like you were at least two steps ahead of me." If he was going to lay it all out, then she would too. "Until the call came in that you were hurt I was pretty much oblivious." Both of his eyebrows went up at that. "I mean, I already considered you my best friend right up there with Jane, but I hadn't really given much thought to exactly what I felt for you. You know how utterly insane this semester has been for me, I just haven't had time to think about romance or really anything like that. Knowing how close you came to... to... let's just say it put things in perspective." He gave her hand a reasuring squeeze and she continued. "I probably would have been kind of blindsided when you asked, but I'm pretty sure I would have said yes. Hell, I might have figured it out as soon as I saw you in person, because now that you're actually in range, I feel like I want to be touching you all the time."

At that he laced their fingers together and brought her hand to his mouth for another kiss. "I can appreciate the sentiment. Unfortunately, it seems I'll have to give you a rain check on that date. I should probably call in and cancel the reservation. It seems unlikely that I'll be able make it."

"You don't say," she drawled, happy to be back to their easy banter. Despite his best efforts, though, she could see that he was fighting sleep. "Go to sleep Loki. You need it to heal." She picked up the forgotten remote and switched the TV off, as he reclined the bed a bit more.

He caught her hand again when she went to pull his blankets up. "Stay with me?"

"Always."

* * *

Afterward

Loki stayed in the hospital for just a few more days, and was cleared to fly back with them for just in time for Christmas. He stood (well, mostly sat) in Thor and Jane's wedding in a black suit that had been cut to allow for his casts, and despite admonishments insisted on staying vertical long enough to sway along for one slow dance with Darcy.

For Christmas the next year, her gave her a ring.

 

**Author's Note:**

> if it seems like it ended kind of abruptly, that's because I had to cut it off out of desperation before it ate up another ten thousand words and didn't get done til 'next year'.


End file.
